Walkers are commonly used by individuals having difficulty maintaining their balance and/or needing support during walking. Such walkers typically have a metal or plastic frame with two sides having a pair of parallel legs that extend to the ground or floor. The legs define two front legs and two rear legs, along with an upper frame region where a user can grasp the walker in order to move the frame forward and take support-assisted steps.
The walker may nor may not have wheels mounted on each of the front legs and typically has plastic tips that are mounted at the bottom of each rear leg. During use, the walker is typically moved by sliding the front and rear legs across an underlying surface or floor. The sliding of the plastic tips on the rear legs across the floor or surface can create a chirping noise and produce vibrations that are transmitted to the hands and arms of the user. The chirping noise and vibrations can be a source of irritation for the user and are produced by friction between the plastic tips on the rear legs and the smooth hard surface. The plastic tips that are commonly provided with the walker wear and break especially when used outside.
Some individuals have eliminated the chirping noise and reduced the vibrations by taking a pair of tennis balls, cutting a hole in each ball and then placing one of the tennis balls on the bottom end of each back leg. The chirping noise and vibrations are reduced or prevented at least in part because the tennis balls have a felt nap cover that can provide a satisfactory amount of friction and noise dampening. The outer felt nap is typically a layer of fibrous material that is glued onto a shell of vulcanized rubber with the textile fabric typically including warp and weft threads made of wool and/or synthetic yarn. The nature of the weave is usually not important and can be a simple, single layer weave or a multilayer weave. In addition, the nature of the fibrous web is not critical and those skilled in the art are aware of a variety of fibrous webs that can produce the physical characteristics of a tennis ball fabric covering.
As such, a temporary solution can be provided by the tennis balls, however, the tennis balls can fit loosely on the back leg if the hole is cut improperly, and/or because of wear, thus be knocked off during use. In addition, the outer felt surface wears out with continued use. Therefore, an improved walker leg tip would be desirable.